2013 Mural Project-Day Five & Six

Mural- Day 6

Time is flying by! Only 4 days until the opening. I'm in the gallery 8-9 hours a day right now. Still much to do. Tomorrow the real colors come on board.

2013 Mural Project: Day Four

“If you have only two pennies, 

spend the first on bread and the other on hyacinths for your soul.”

–Arab Proverb

Day four went very well. Color has arrived at last! 

Today I was thinking about how making art creates community. Art is a jumping off point in any conversation. Agreement is not needed, just a desire to share your experience as a viewer. 

I spent time with several people I did not know and very much enjoyed engaging them in conversation about art. 

It was not required that they liked my work. I appreciated that they enjoyed art.

2013 Mural Project- Day Three

No painting today, the under painting was still too wet. Very humid again today, but tomorrow color for sure. Here is the palette I am thinking about. A friend of mine gave me this paint color swatch a few years ago and it has proven to be so valuable. I can look at color families instead of just a single color.

Quiet, peaceful day at the gallery. Had several good visits. One week from now is the opening. Much work to do.

2013 Mural Project: Day Two

Mural Project  Underpainting
copyright KKMarino 2013

Day Two of the project went well. I completed the under painting of the mural. I now have a feel for the values in the piece. I planned on starting color tomorrow but it has turned very humid which is having an effect on the paint drying time. So we will see what tomorrow brings. I have another painting in mind so if you drop by you may find me working on something else if the mural is too wet to continue on.

I find it very relaxing working on this piece. I painted 7 hours today which was terrific, though I am a bit out of shape for standing that long. But the peacefulness of just me, a little music and the work is great.

2013 Mural Project: Day One

indi go gallery, champaign, illinois-upper level
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indi go gallery, champaign, illinois-lower level
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indi go gallery, champaign, illinois-lower level west
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I am settling in nicely at the gallery. I'm excited about the project now that the prep work is complete and painting is imminent! 

I am happy with the Exhibit of my Recent Work that went up last night.  

I completed the mural pencil drawing and the glue drawing prior to my arrival at the gallery. I am ready for the under painting-a step that I enjoy very much. It allows me to get acquainted with the painting as I work through and make decisions about the values, shading and overall composition. 

To visitors, it is an unexpected step and they wonder "where is the color anyway?"

But, a very relaxing step for me, a good place to be on day one.

2013 Mural Project: Providing Balance

"Providing Balance" 8"x 8"
Copyright KKMarino 2013
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Here is a small painting that I recently finished for the show. I am excited about this color combination. I prefer unusual color schemes. My grandmother was a quilter and she had a keen sense of color. Her combinations always worked, but were at times most unexpected. I learned from her to take a chance, try new ideas with color.

Two days until I move the work to the gallery. 

2013 Mural Project: A Torrent of Visual "What-ifs"

Untitled, detail.
copyright KKMarino 2013
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"Drawing is the artist's most direct and spontaneous expression, a species of writing: 

it reveals, better than does painting, 

his true personality."

Edgar Degas-

I am doing preliminary work for the mural and should be ready to make the drawing on canvas this weekend. 

A big step. 

I always feel hesitant to make the first mark. Of course pencil is easily erased, but for me the first marks on a canvas are important and set the tone for the entire piece. 

I do not work out the entire painting before hand and then transfer the image to canvas. That would be nice, but its not my way. My process involves "intuitive drawing."

Most of my preliminary work is mental. I work through images for weeks or months in my mind--thinking and comparing, imagining and discarding ideas and marks, reworking and formulating. 

A torrent of visual "what-ifs". 

I tend to write more than draw as I get close to starting a piece- my line drawings are kin to writing. Letters and words give us the image instantly, my lines demand more. 

When I do start the drawing on canvas it is a flurry of action: 

a watch-out, get-out-of-my-way type event.

One motion. 

Then I see the image for the first time, all the pieces and parts that I have been imaging are now made real.

If Degas is correct in his assertion that the drawing reveals the artist's most direct expression, his true personality, then what does my drawing say about me?

2013 Mural Project: About Being a Painter

Work Table 9/4/2013
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I have always been a painter, but not always a practicing painter or even a happy painter.

As a kid I loved drawing, it was a way that I could create my own world. I was the "arty" one, the different one.  Kids don't see the world like we adults do. There are no limitations on creativity until someone puts it there-even a small helpful correction from an adult can turn the tide, stifle a thought or stop a direction.

I was trained in watercolor. At the time I detested oil paints. I tried oil, but it was laborious, hard and unforgiving. Watercolor was fluid, fun and lovely.(cue the music) Like a walk on a spring day, but oil was the coldest of hard winters freezing me out. Locking me down, stopping me in my tracks.

Now many years later I am in love again, but this time with oil. Its buttery consistency and wonderful blending capabilities thrill me. And it is patient, dries ever so slowly or at the rate that I determine. When I returned to painting three years ago I knew I wanted to conquer oil painting. My old nemesis.

So I set out to learn. I taught myself. Early attempts...well, not so pretty, but eventually I began to figure it out.

Seems I should  I should write something lovely here like: "Oil Painting fulfills me, it inspires me to be a better person or it allows me to express my view of the world".

Well, Okay. But, not really.

Its actually very simple.

I am an Artist. I Create. Painting is just along for the ride.

2013 Mural Project: And so it begins...

On-Site Mural Painting Project
September 18- September 30, 2013
Artist on-site Daily (Sept 18-27)  9:00-3:00 pm
indi go gallery
9 E. University Ave. Champaign, Illinois 61820

September 2, 2013.

I have 17 days of preparation left for my On-Site Mural Project and Solo Exhibit at indi-go gallery in Champaign, Illinois.

For two years I have been contemplating this project. It is one of those "Go Big or Go Home" adventures for me.

In the past few years I have enjoyed interaction with viewers of my work during exhibits. In many ways the work is not truly complete for me until it is seen.

Otherwise it is just me and the art-which is a bit self-involved.

So here's the plan:

10 Days: Sept. 18-27th I will be painting a 3' X 12' mural on-site at the gallery.

Solo Exhibit will be up
Music playing
Art making will be happening
A mini-residency of sorts for me
A goal will be accomplished

On Friday, September 27, 2013 at 6:00 pm there will be an opening for the Mural and the Solo Exhibit. Exhibit will come down on October 1, 2013.

Now blogging again.
Blogging art projects for me is like creating an online work plan + performance art via in the internet. I enjoy the discipline of the day to day documentation of a work. It keeps me on task and since I am not a performer by nature it allows me to be one. Sort of.

So I begin...I have been painting furiously completing work for the accompanying Solo Exhibit. I have a terrific collector who is encouraging and nudging me along the way. We had a studio visit this week and his enthusiasm was greatly appreciated.

Seen above is the promotion photo that will be used for the project. Much work to do to get all the pieces together.

So I end this entry with my plan for the day:

“The best preparation for good work tomorrow is to do good work today.”Elbert Hubbard, American Writer
And So it begins...

New Work: Chat Time

"Chat Time", 2012 Oil/Glue on Canvas 30'x30"
copyright Kim Kissinger Marino

(Click on painting to view larger, then hit Refresh button to return to post)

This Painting will be part of an Exhibit at the Prairie Center of the Arts in Peoria, Illinois. The show opens December 7, 2012, 5-7:30 pm.

Also Opening December 7, 2012 in Urbana, Illinois: Art Coop Gallery's Annual Fundraiser for The Champaign County Humane Society. I will have three new paintings on exhibit.